South Sudanese men wait to casts their vote at a polling station in Juba, Southern Sudan, on Monday. Thousands of people began casting ballots Sunday during a weeklong vote to choose the destiny of this war-ravaged and desperately poor but oil-rich region. The mainly Christian south is widely expected to secede from the mainly Muslim north, splitting Africa’s largest country in two. (AP Photo)
JUBA, JANUARY 10 (ABC News): Voters in southern Sudan are about to begin their second day of polling in a referendum to decide whether they will split from the north and form a country of their own. The week-long vote began yesterday, and the early signs are that south Sudan will overwhelmingly vote for independence, ending five decades of conflict between north and south.
Some 3.75 million people are registered to vote in the south and around 117,000 in north Sudan, the majority of them in the capital Khartoum. More than 9,000 Sudanese people across Australia will cast a vote over the coming week. Whatever the outcome, the vote is an historic achievement, and so far the process has been remarkably smooth. But if it does become the world’s newest country, south Sudan will also instantly be one of its poorest and one of its least developed. According to south Sudan’s own bureau of statistics, just over half the population lives below the poverty line, on $1 per day. Eighty per cent of the population is illiterate and only 5 per cent of births are attended by a health professional.
One man trying to improve that last number is Manyang Trek, a senior official in the Ministry of Health. He says he hopes south Sudan may one day have 200 doctors for a population of almost 8.5 million people. There is also a flood of returning refugees hoping to re-establish homes that they fled a generation ago, creating a potentially volatile mix of failed expectations, rising poverty and collapsing infrastructure.
Trying to manage all of this is a public service recruited from the 2 per cent of the population that finish primary school. Public servants like Mr Trek are entirely dependent on foreign donors. “We have been actually depending on consultancy,” he said. “We invite the other countries to see that the people who are qualified can always come and work in the southern Sudan to help the ministry.”
Disputed region
Then there are the points of argument between north and south Sudan that could still trigger a renewed crisis. In particular, there is the question of Abyei, the oil rich region on the border which both sides claim. It is such a potential flashpoint that US senator John Kerry went out of his way to raise it during a visit to the southern capital Juba.
“Discussions are taking place today, yesterday, and will be ongoing regarding Abyei. Abyei is not being left behind. Abyei is not being forgotten,” he said. “We intend to resolve the issues of Abyei over the course of the next weeks and months and, I hope, sooner rather than later.” Mr Trek says the north has no “justification to be hanging on to Abyei”. He says he is willing to fight for the region. “We don’t like to be talking about fighting and so forth. But if somebody forces you to fight, then we can fight, yes,” he said. Between the chronic under-development, the fledgling public service and serious points of conflict between north and south, it is hard to overstate the challenges ahead.
Some 3.75 million people are registered to vote in the south and around 117,000 in north Sudan, the majority of them in the capital Khartoum. More than 9,000 Sudanese people across Australia will cast a vote over the coming week. Whatever the outcome, the vote is an historic achievement, and so far the process has been remarkably smooth. But if it does become the world’s newest country, south Sudan will also instantly be one of its poorest and one of its least developed. According to south Sudan’s own bureau of statistics, just over half the population lives below the poverty line, on $1 per day. Eighty per cent of the population is illiterate and only 5 per cent of births are attended by a health professional.
One man trying to improve that last number is Manyang Trek, a senior official in the Ministry of Health. He says he hopes south Sudan may one day have 200 doctors for a population of almost 8.5 million people. There is also a flood of returning refugees hoping to re-establish homes that they fled a generation ago, creating a potentially volatile mix of failed expectations, rising poverty and collapsing infrastructure.
Trying to manage all of this is a public service recruited from the 2 per cent of the population that finish primary school. Public servants like Mr Trek are entirely dependent on foreign donors. “We have been actually depending on consultancy,” he said. “We invite the other countries to see that the people who are qualified can always come and work in the southern Sudan to help the ministry.”
Disputed region
Then there are the points of argument between north and south Sudan that could still trigger a renewed crisis. In particular, there is the question of Abyei, the oil rich region on the border which both sides claim. It is such a potential flashpoint that US senator John Kerry went out of his way to raise it during a visit to the southern capital Juba.
“Discussions are taking place today, yesterday, and will be ongoing regarding Abyei. Abyei is not being left behind. Abyei is not being forgotten,” he said. “We intend to resolve the issues of Abyei over the course of the next weeks and months and, I hope, sooner rather than later.” Mr Trek says the north has no “justification to be hanging on to Abyei”. He says he is willing to fight for the region. “We don’t like to be talking about fighting and so forth. But if somebody forces you to fight, then we can fight, yes,” he said. Between the chronic under-development, the fledgling public service and serious points of conflict between north and south, it is hard to overstate the challenges ahead.
